Coinbase, One Of the Largest Cryptocurrency Platforms, Reviewed

In today’s article we will review one of the largest cryptocurrency services in the world – Coinbase. It offers a wallet, and a way to purchase Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum. Does it live up to it’s reputation? Let’s find out. VISIT COINBASE >>>>

Coinbase First Impressions

Let’s start off with what irks me the most in crypto services like this. It’s the lengthy registration process that requires so many personal details. On top of that, Coinbase requires a very strong password in order to just register. Annoying, as even my regular 14 character password with upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols doesn’t seem to satisfy the checker. I had to use a random password generator, copy and paste it into the box. They want my phone number. They want SMS verification. They want my ID! I am buying cryptocurrency, not a nuke. All of this defeats some of the most important foundations of Bitcoin – privacy and anonymity.

Thus, if a wallet is all you want, I would suggest using blockchain.info instead, as it even has support for .onion services! Second, payment methods. Only bank account and credit/debit card are supported. Disappointing. This makes purchase difficult for an eastern EU citizen like me, where these payment options are not fully supported. Coinbase seems to be America-centric.

Coinbase Offers Options to Automate Use

What’s cool about the website though is the API. It allows you to perform automated actions on your account with your own software. According to Coinbase, it has many abillities, such as:

Generate bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum wallets and addresses

Buy/sell and send/receive bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum

Securely store bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum

Retrieve real-time or historical price information

Receive notifications when payments arrive

Accept and request bitcoin payments as a merchant

Seems neat. There is also a mobile Coinbase app, which you might find handy.

Coinbase Lacks Many Features

Still, the API alone is not something that would make me jump the ship. The whole interface looks very bland to me, as it is completely blue and white, and not in the passive, non-engaging, „just-let-me-browse”, Facebook kind of way. It’s distracting. Not only that, but Coinbase can’t seem to decide on a shade of blue to use. They’re all over the place, not really creating an uniform look. It seems that the company just rides off it’s popularity as being the most well known service in the field. There is nothing worth my time in the website. But that’s as a seasoned cryptocurrency user; a neophyte could find it useful.

The website as a whole really lacks features that would make me eager to sell all my personal information in order to simply purchase crypto. Only the most popular coins are accepted, and I am a Monero aficionado. The lack of my favorite payment options is a deal-breaker. Overall, I would suggest everyone to use localbitcoins instead for all your crypto purchasing needs. You’re not likely to buy coins there without divulging the same amount of personal info, but it’s optional, and you might just find a seller that doesn’t require that off you.